The beer industry in the United States and other countries involves a number of participants performing specific roles from brewing the beer, to distributing the beer, to vending the beer to consumers who finally drink and enjoy the beer in its many forms. While the United States has legal requirements for maintaining a three-tier system requiring all beer to pass through a distributor or wholesaler, for many reasons a three-tiered system is the most popular way of operating the beer industry in most other countries, as well. The distributor does the on-the-ground sales and marketing for the producer, and the distributors sell the beer to vendors who ultimately serve the beer consumer. Distributors also maintain refrigerated warehouses to store the beer, and fleets of trucks to ship the beer to ultimate destinations. The distributor also makes sure the retailers are always carrying fresh beer. In some states breweries are allowed to self-distribute, in which case the brewery takes on both production and distributing functions.
Of course, beer is sold to consumers in two primary ways, in bottles and through kegs. Beer kegs are made of stainless steel, or less commonly, of aluminum. A keg has a single opening on one end, called a “bung.” A tube called a “spear” extends from the opening to the other end. Most major breweries now use internally speared kegs. There is a self-closing valve that is opened by the coupling fitting which is attached when the keg is tapped. There is also an opening at the top of the spear that allows gas (usually carbon dioxide) to drive the beer out of the keg. The coupling fitting has one or two valves that control the flow of beer out of and gas into the keg. The keg must be in the upright position, that is, with the opening on top for the beer to be dispensed. A line is attached to the valve on the keg, and the line runs to a faucet with a tap handle where the beer is dispensed to customers.
Kegs are typically the second biggest asset a brewery has (the first is their production facility) and the asset is not under their control. The industry average keg loss is 4%-5% per year and usually owners do not know where and when they are losing them. Keg deposits are only $30-$50, while the cost of the keg is $100-$150. The deposit does not cover the cost of the keg. Correlating deposits between deliverer and recipient requires manual counting and is error prone. In order to track location of kegs, it is necessary to manually scan them at each location.
Kegs are often stolen or misplaced by vendors. So, when breweries need empty kegs, the required kegs are not available, because they have not yet been returned. Without visibility into where the kegs are and when they will return, it is difficult to predict and plan for needs.
Keg maintenance schedules also are very important to maintain product quality. But without knowing the exact history of each keg, it is impossible to determine specific schedules. Without good measurements, a brewery has little ability to optimize usage of their kegs. Keeping track of which kegs need to be serviced based upon number of uses in the field requires manual counting and is error prone. Keeping track of which kegs need which type of cleaning based upon number of uses also requires manual counting and is error prone.
When kegs are returned, it is necessary to manually scan them to determine batch number, beer type, dates, etc. When scanning individual kegs, as they go in and out of a warehouse, one mistake can make inventory inaccurate. Correlating keg serial numbers with deliveries requires manual labor and is error prone.
Keeping track of keg inventories in cold rooms, trucks, warehouses requires manual counting and is error prone. Using cardboard labels to determine keg contents, fill dates, etc.—a usual practice—is error prone, because such labels frequently come off. A result is that a retail outlet may inadvertently run out of a particular style of beer.
Beer ages and some beers are better fresh and some are better aged. Unpasteurized beer must be kept below certain temperature thresholds to prevent spoilage. So, being sensitive to such product needs is an ongoing challenge for distributors and vendors, as errors here can affect a consumer's acceptance of a brewer's product.
The distributor's delivery truck is also a critical part of the beer industry, yet a place where human limitations and incomplete information can cause many problems. Inside a truck, it is difficult/impossible to tell exactly which kegs are in the truck. It is hard to manage a fleet of drivers, monitoring compliance, doing real-time route changes, etc. It is difficult to keep track of which kegs are in a truck from day-to-day and as the truck drives in delivers and pick-ups. Drivers may also try to disable tracking to hide unscheduled stops. It is difficult to capture mileage and speed data from a truck. It is hard to train new drivers on a route, and hard for drivers to learn the nuances of their consumers' requirements.
One way to solve these problems might be to use GPS tracking devices on the beer kegs. But, tracking devices are often removed by a person stealing a keg. Most GPS tracking equipment costs nominally $100, because it includes a cell radio, GPS radio, etc. GPS tracking equipment also is bulky and requires power to operate. Most GPS tracking equipment requires a cell data plan to communicate back to the owner. This monthly fee is prohibitive for a beer keg. This cost and the related complications make GPS trackers prohibitive for a beer keg.
Although a brewery/distributor sells a keg to a vendor (i.e. restaurant, bar, etc.) it does not mean the keg goes on tap (i.e. pints of it offered for sale). So, the brewery/distributor does not know if the vendor needs a new keg or not. It is necessary, therefore, for the brewery and distributor to visit the vendor account to check if a given keg is on tap. A brewery and distributor also wants to know if a keg is “full at restaurant,” “empty at distributor” and other logical states and transitions. Gathering this information can be very time consuming and difficult, requiring several trips just to maintain the information.
Once a keg reaches a vendor, it is hard to determine when a line in the tap room might run out due to a keg in the cold room. A vendor would like to know how many servings they can sell, but POS tracking of keg levels is inaccurate due to variances in how the beer is served and when and how a keg is changed out. Flow meters which measure how much liquid is taken out of a keg (and thereby how full the keg is) must be installed (1) in the line between the keg and the handle in the bar; or (2) inside the valve which is attached to the keg; or (3) inside the valve in the handle. Again, there is the problem of correlating keg changes with the flow meter measurements. Measuring the liquid level inside a container often requires breaching the container. Solutions for weighing the keg to determine how full it is also may require each keg to be weighed individually, and the scale may interfere with shelving and need to be transitioned between kegs. All of this unduly complicates the use of kegs and experience that vendors and consumers enjoy in the use of kegs.
There is also opportunity for improving the relationships between the brewery and the consumer. In the marketplace, it is difficult to determine marketing effectiveness for a specific beer. Consumers desire to engage with the beers they like. Consumers would like to know when their favorite beer is available nearby. When a favorite beer is not available, consumers would like to know recommendations of something else to try. When travelling, it is hard for a consumer to find a place and something they would like Breweries would like to gain the attention of new consumers. It is difficult to blindly determine a consumer's drinking preferences (i.e. type of beer). A vendor's point-of-sale terminal will often not distinguish which beer was sold. Consumers may want to engage a specific style of beer. Consumers also would like to know when promotions occur.
Considering the above factors, today's beer industry calls for significant improvement in the supply chain involving breweries, distributors, vendors, and consumers. There is the need to greatly improve the use and monitoring of beer kegs throughout the beer supply chain for both industry profitability and consumer protection and enjoyment. However, until the present disclosure, no such improvements have been effective in satisfactorily addressing these concerns and opportunities.
In many applications is it currently not possible or economically feasible to provide a fill level measuring device on a transportable fluid container, where remote determination of the fluid level inside the container from a third location is desired. This capability can be desired for a variety of reasons such as preventing supply from running out, optimizing delivery and distribution schedules and/or stock levels, analyzing fluid use over time, adhering to product freshness requirements, etc.
Due to pressure requirements, temperature requirements, or fluid content requirements, many transportable fluid containers are made from metal. Metal prevents radio and visible light detection systems from determining fluid level from outside the container. Thus, most fluid measurement systems for metal vessels require either penetrating the container (ultrasonic reflections, floats), are weight based (measuring weight of container), or flow based (measuring how much content has left the container). Each of these solutions has limitations.
Systems which penetrate the container are expensive to implement on existing containers. Also, some fluid containers (such as beer kegs) have strict cleaning requirements that any system inside the container must adhere to. When the contents are flammable (for example, propane) it is difficult to safely introduce electrical circuits inside the container. Systems which exist inside the container must survive in all the temperature extremes required of the container and its contents. Beer kegs require steam sanitization. Propane tanks require extreme cold as the liquid evaporates. These requirements make measurement systems that exist inside the container difficult to implement and expensive.
Alternatively, a container can adopt a weighing system on the outside of the main vessel. These types of systems are expensive and require modification of the containment vessel, since the measurement device must support the full weight of the vessel and its contents. Reliable operation of such devices on a variety of surfaces—from uneven floors to open wire shelves—is difficult to achieve. These types of fluid measuring systems are difficult to implement, heavy and expensive.
Flow based systems measure fluid as it leaves the vessel. If such a system is integrated into the container, it suffers the same difficulties listed above as any measurement system that penetrates the container. If such a system is on the outside of the container, established distribution methods, such as standardized couplings and sizes of containers, make modifying the container impractical. To achieve compatibility with existing fluid dispensing systems any such flow measuring device should not change the size, shape or required coupling of the container. In addition, the device should not be easily detached from the container. These requirements make flow based measurement devices impractical for use on a mobile container.
Flow based measurement systems are primarily used in the lines which are connected to a fluid container. When used this way, the flow based measuring device has difficulty distinguishing between full and partially full containers. These types of measurement devices have the limitation of not knowing which container they are attached to. Only measuring the amount of fluid that goes through the line may not give an accurate determination of container fill level, because it is not known how full the container was initially, how much of the flow to attribute to a one container vs another one. Beer kegs, in particular, can be connected and disconnected frequently (for example, for regular line cleaning) while the keg is still being drained, making keeping track of when a new container is attached to a line difficult.
Dispensing systems which maintain constant container pressure (such as beer keg dispensing systems) do not provide a means to directly measure fluid volume using pressure. Beer kegs are highly sensitive to bacterial contamination and any measurement system which is in contact with the fluid must be easy to sanitize and maintain. Flammable contents, such as propane tanks, make electrical connections inside a containment vessel difficult to safely achieve. Heat requirements (for example, steam sanitation) prevent many common fill level detection mechanisms that rely upon being inside the container.
Established distribution methods, such as standardized couplings and sizes of containers, make adding a fluid transfer measuring device to the container impractical if it would change the size, shape or required coupling of the container. Fluid measurement devices which are in line with the container coupling instead of attached to the container itself are unreliable. These types of measurement devices have the limitation of not knowing which container they are attached to. Only measuring the amount of fluid that goes through the line may not give an accurate determination of container fill level, because it is not known how full the container was initially, how much of the flow to attribute to a one container vs another one.
Many fluid measurement systems for pressurized containers are economically unviable in relationship to the value of the container and/or its contents. When containers are rotated frequently (beer kegs, consumer propane tanks) the supplier must consider the cost of loss or damage to the container. Measurement of fluid level is most valuable when it can be done remotely, without requiring ready access to the container. In addition to fluid level, remote identification of the given container and its particular contents is also valuable.